# Protected and Watched Lists

## Protected lists: completely off-limits

Add a list to your protected lists, and Yaffi won't touch anything in it — nothing is read, moved, or edited. It's as if Yaffi doesn't know the list exists.

## Watched lists: the only ones Yaffi looks at

Set one or more watched lists, and Yaffi switches to processing only those — every other list is ignored, even ones it would normally route items into.

## Where to set them

Both options are in the app's Settings screen, alongside your other list preferences.

## When to use each

Protected lists are useful for anything Yaffi shouldn't touch at all — a shared household list where wording matters to someone else, or a work list you don't want an AI editing. Watched lists are the opposite tool: useful if you only want Yaffi's help on one or two specific lists and would rather it leave the rest of Reminders alone entirely.

These settings work alongside normal [Lists and Routing](/en/docs/lists-and-routing.md) — protecting or watching a list overrides where Yaffi would otherwise send things.